Sunday, October 11, 2015

WILDEST DREAMS by Robyn Carr



Publisher:    Mira
Published:    August 25, 2015
ISBN:      978-0778317494
Genre:    Contemporary Romance
Format:  Print
Obtained via:  Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

FIVE HEARTS
 


Lin Su Simmons hasn’t had an easy life.

Well that’s not entirely true.  Adopted by Americans from her Vietnamese mother at 3, her childhood was one of privilege…one her adoptive parents never let her forget she had.  Somewhere between her memories, the story told by her American parents and the story she tells her 14 year old son, Charlie, is the reality of Lin Su’s life.  When she became pregnant, out of wedlock, the Charlie’s father turned away from her as did her adoptive family.  Forced to choose between her child and a family that was never her own, Lin Su struck out on her own, obtained her nursing degree and managed to raise a child on her own.  That Charlie has severe asthma was just one more thing for the young woman to contend with as she struggled for their existence.

Blake Smiley is a well-known and respected triathlete.  After years of moving from race to race Blake has decided it is time to settle down and Thunder Point seems to have everything he needs—ocean, mountains and the perfect varied terrain for biking.  When he arrives in Thunder Point he finds much more than the perfect place to train for his next triathlon—he finds Lin Su.

Fireworks immediately erupt between the two…Lin Su refuses to give up her hard won independence and the story she has woven for Charlie or her beginnings.  She will hold on to her secrets no matter what.  Blake understands her need to protect her secrets, but he also knows what holding on to those stories and secrets can cost.  They can keep someone from their dreams.  And worse than losing your dreams are losing those that could well be the best – the Wildest Dreams.

Robyn Carr takes readers back to Thunder Point in her newest book of that series, WILDEST DREAMS and it is a wonderful addition.  I love this series for many reasons, not the least of which is even though new characters are added with each new story, readers have a chance to catch up on longer standing characters, like old friends.  They may only appear for a brief moment, their name mentioned in passing, but they are not frozen in time.  As the months and years go by, they also progress, age, have new experiences.  Reading each new book is like returning to a place you know. 

And sometimes there are characters who move on.  It hasn’t happened yet, but in a series like this one, when characters grow up, establish new families, experience new life events, it is inevitable some will indeed move on. When they do, it is like saying goodbye to a good friend and even in books, sometimes we have to and then take a moment to accept life does go on. 

I have seldom, if ever, seen a story that speaks to what happened after the fall of Saigon, at least for what happened to the people who fled in boats to what they hoped was life—not a better life per se, but a life.  Carr doesn’t dwell on  the specifics—only pieces of the aftermath and only through a few of Lin Su’s memories and it is well done. 

Carr does a wonderful job in how her characters relate their pasts to tell their stories—the real ones and the ones they fabricated to protect themselves both physically and emotionally. 

Each book in this series is a standalone…but as I’ve said before, you do not want to miss any of them.


This is an objective review and an endorsement of this book.

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